MAMMALIA. 229 
Shape.—The body of the little-chief hare is moderately thick, and the head is short and 
broad with an arched forehead. The whiskers are longer than the head. The ears are large 
and nearly round, but do not, as far as I can judge from the prepared specimens, appear to 
have the incurvation of their anterior margins, which gives the funnel shape to the ears of 
the pika, as described by Pallas. .An obtuse projection of the rump is the only vestige 
of a tail. 
The fur is soft to the touch, and differs in quality from that of the hare, being less downy 
and having more the character of the fur of a meadow-mouse, It is of an uniform, shining 
grayish-black colour for three-fourths of its length from the roots upwards, then partly 
yellowish-brown, and partly white, and on the superior parts of the body, most of the hairs. 
have short black tips. The black predominates on the posterior part of the back, but even 
there it is mixed with brown. Yellowish-brown prevails on the shoulders and sides; the 
under part of the protuberance which represents the tail is white, and all the under parts of 
the body are smoke-gray, tinged on the chest and some parts of the belly with brown. The 
fur on the back is about three-quarters of an inch long, that on the belly is somewhat shorter. 
In some specimens the principal colour of the head is yellowish-brown, in others there are 
many black hairs scattered over the crown. The ears have a narrow white border, and are 
pretty well clothed anteriorly with white hairs tipped with black. The hairs which cover 
them posteriorly are longer, and nearly black for their whole length. 
The extremities are white with a brownish tinge. The soles of the feet are clothed with 
dusky-brown hair. The claws are’ black, short, arched, much compressed, but not very 
sharp, and are concealed by the fur of the toes. There is a large naked black tubercle at 
the root of each of the four fore-claws, and a fifth minute tubercle far back near the 
exterior margin of the rather broad and flat palm. The thumb is a little further back than 
the outer toe, but not so far as the last-mentioned tubercle. It is very short, and has no 
naked callus at its base, but its claw is as large as those of the toes. There are four toes 
on the hind-foot, each terminated by a naked callus and claw, similar to those on the 
fore-toes. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Inches. Lines, Inches. Lines. 
Length of head and i i 7 « 6 9 Length of largest whiskers 0 9 2 9 
re head F 2 2 a fore-foot, from see to end 
of from nose to walk ory prema 1 9 of middle claw 0 o 9 
= from nose to centre of pupil 0 9 Breadth of fore-palm at the ‘jay . 0 4 
Height of the ear Bead: 0 Length of the scull from incisors to occipital 
Breadth of the ear 0 9 spine 1 6 
Length from heel to the middle claw of the Total breadth of the can at the auditory 
hind-foot E P F 1 13 openings ; . 9 
> fur on the ee > ge) 10 
